Lafayette County, Florida: A Local Guide for Home Buyers and Homeowners

Mayo

Mayo is the county seat, and the courthouse at 120 West Main Street holds the Clerk, the Property Appraiser and the Tax Collector. John B. Whitfield settled the town in 1874 and named it for Col. James M. Mayo, and it incorporated in 1903.

The 1908 Lafayette County Courthouse anchors downtown, and the old courthouse is now a bed and breakfast. Other historic buildings include the 1888 Old Mayo Free Press Building, the House of the Seven Gables from the 1880s and the 1915 M. Pico Building. In 2018 the town briefly renamed itself Miracle Whip as a publicity stunt for Kraft Heinz.

Day

Day is an unincorporated community with its own ZIP code, 32013. The Census Bureau first listed it as a census-designated place in 2010.

New Troy

New Troy was the original county seat. Its courthouse burned on New Year’s Eve 1892, the seat moved to Mayo, and New Troy faded after that.

Along the Suwannee

The Suwannee forms the county’s whole eastern boundary. State Road 51 crosses it on the Hal W. Adams Bridge, a suspension bridge about 3 miles north of Mayo that opened on July 4, 1947, with a 423-foot main span. Lafayette Blue Springs and Troy Spring state parks both sit on this stretch of river.

Lafayette County SHIP purchase assistance

Lafayette County’s SHIP plan helps with down payment and closing costs on a newly built home, an existing home, or an existing home that needs repairs finished within 12 months. It’s a 0% deferred loan that’s forgiven a piece at a time over its term, with tiers for very low, low and moderate income buyers. You put a small share of the price in yourself, and the plan caps both the sales price and the size of the award.

Those amounts and caps reset with each SHIP plan and allocation. The office directory lists two numbers, 386-294-2202 and 386-294-2022, or call us at 888-601-8344 and we’ll ask the Community Circle office what Lafayette’s SHIP loan pays and whether it’s taking purchase files before you sign.

Lafayette County housing plan (PDF)

Lafayette County SHIP repairs and rebuilds

Owners who live in their homes can apply for rehab as a deferred loan forgiven over 5 years, and the plan also pays for demolition and reconstruction of homes past repair. Emergency repair grants and disaster assistance grants round it out.

Repair applications go to the same Suwannee River Economic Council office in Mayo. If a grant can’t cover the roof or the storm damage in time, text us at 954-816-8820 and we’ll run a cash-out refinance for the repair alongside what SHIP can do.

Lafayette County SHIP office listing

Florida Hometown Heroes (statewide)

Hometown Heroes is a Florida Housing purchase program that pairs a 30-year fixed first mortgage with a 0% second for the down payment and closing costs. You make no monthly payment on the second, and it isn’t forgiven; it’s repaid when you sell, refinance or pay off the home, or once it stops being where you live.

At least one buyer has to work full time for a Florida-based employer in health care, K-12 schools, first response, public safety, the courts or licensed child care, so a teacher at Lafayette High School or a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office qualifies. Military buyers in Mayo and the rest of Lafayette County qualify too: active duty with any employer, and veterans, Reserve and National Guard members when they work full time for a Florida-based employer. FHA, VA, USDA and Conventional first mortgages all work with it.

Florida Housing assistance is a once-in-a-lifetime benefit, and you reach it only through a participating lender or broker. Before you spend it on a Lafayette home, call us first at 888-601-8344.

Official program page

FL Assist and HFA Preferred (statewide)

FL Assist is a 0% second at no monthly payment, deferred and not forgiven, repaid when you sell, refinance, transfer the home or stop living there. It pairs with a Florida Housing first mortgage: FHA, VA, USDA, or a Conventional loan through HFA Preferred or HFA Advantage. HFA Advantage PLUS adds a second forgiven over 5 years while you live in the home, and the HLP second carries a small fixed payment over 30 years.

Florida Housing funds these loan by loan, and they can run dry. Call or text us at 954-816-8820 and we’ll check which one is open for your Mayo or Day purchase before the contract is signed.

Official program page

Schools

Public schools are run by Lafayette District Schools, 363 NE Crawford St., Mayo, 386-294-4107. The district has two schools, Lafayette Elementary and Lafayette High School.

Getting around

State Road 51 runs north out of Mayo across the Hal W. Adams Bridge over the Suwannee.

Out in the country, confirm internet service at the address before you buy.

Lafayette Blue Springs State Park

Lafayette Blue Springs is a first-magnitude spring that stays 72 degrees all year, and you can walk across the natural limestone bridge over its cave system. The park at 799 N.W. Blue Spring Road has vacation cabins on stilts above the riverbank and a walk-in tent campground that doubles as a river camp on the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail. People come to swim, paddle, dive, fish and ride horses.

Troy Spring State Park

Troy Spring is a 70-foot-deep, first-magnitude spring on the Suwannee, and the remains of the Civil War steamboat Madison, scuttled in 1863 to keep it from being captured, lie in the shallow spring run. You can see the wreck from the boardwalk or while snorkeling, certified divers can scuba in open water, and a half-mile nature trail runs through the park. It uses a Branford mailing address, 674 N.E. Troy Springs Road.

Hal W. Adams Bridge

The Hal W. Adams Bridge has carried State Road 51 over the Suwannee since July 4, 1947. It’s a suspension bridge with a 423-foot main span, about 3 miles north of Mayo, and FDOT maintains it.

Mallory Swamp and the Steinhatchee

The Steinhatchee River starts in the Mallory Swamp just south of Mayo and runs 34.5 miles to the Gulf, forming the Dixie and Taylor county line on the way.

Buying a home

FHA is the most common loan among our Lafayette County buyers: 3.5% down, flexible credit guidelines, and it combines with SHIP and the statewide programs. Qualified veterans can buy with a VA loan and no money down, and we handle Conventional loans, Hometown Heroes and FHA 100% financing for Lafayette homes as well.

Licensed as a Florida mortgage broker since 1997, AAA Capital Funding lends statewide in all 67 Florida counties, the smallest ones included. We shop several wholesale lenders on your behalf and tell you what you qualify for before you look at a house in Mayo or a few acres near the springs.

Refinancing the home you have

Refinancing can cut your payment, fund a new roof or storm repairs with cash out, pay off higher-interest debt, or buy out someone else’s share of the property. The equity in your Lafayette County home can do that work for you.

Call 888-601-8344 and we’ll set the payment you have against the payment you’d get, along with the cash you’d take home and the closing costs, so the decision is yours with the figures in hand.